Walk in an Employee’s Shoes!

If no one knew you at your place of business and you walked the halls pretending to be a client, how would the employees you meet respond to the question, “Do you think your employer could win an “Employer of Choice” award for the whole of the country?” How would they respond to questions about your organization, management style, corporate culture, your compensation and reward structure and your systems in general?

There is no rocket science in becoming an employer of choice, while I agree that people are complex and it can be difficult to understand what it is that people look for when they are identifying an employer of choice. There are a number of questions that you must ask yourself in order to figure out whether your organization fits into the category of “employers of choice”. Do you know if your employees enjoy working for you? Please note that the fact that your workers turn up for work every day on time does not mean that they like or enjoy working for you.

10 Questions to Ask Yourself:

1. Are employees’ full potential being realized?

2. Are there long term employee developmental plans in place?

3. Does the employee feel wanted by the organization and do they plan to stay?

4. Do you have an open line of communications with employees?

5. Do managers build team spirit and encourage teamwork?

6. Are you considerate of work / home life balance?

7. Are employees praised for accomplishments and above and beyond activity?

8. Do you lead employees with integrity and are they treated with dignity?

9. Do employees know their contributions are valued?

10. Would an employee recommend your company to a friend as a good place to work?

Finally, be compassionate. When you are giving of yourself you stop seeing yourself and your company as the center of the universe. While focusing on profits and business growth, let’s not forget the people, your employees, who make the company move and grow and ultimately profitable.

Winning the Engagement Battle

To effectively measure and improve employee engagement levels, organizations must keep in mind a few imperatives and channel their efforts in the right direction. First, employee engagement initiatives must have senior management buy-in and must be driven from the top. Also, employees must be willing to accept their roles and responsibilities throughout the process. Another activity that cannot be overlooked is a comprehensive communication plan. This includes clarity on the information to be communicated, by whom, through which channel and when. Employees should know and understand the purpose of the engagement initiative and how the engagement results will be used. Employees should be ensured their responses will be kept anonymous. Third parties or consultants can bring a level of trust among all stakeholders and communication can be delivered more effectively.

Engagement measurement via survey questionnaire should be precise, reliable, actionable and customized as per the needs of the organization.
Measuring engagement is crucial but is only a part of winning the battle. Many organizations invest only in measuring engagement, leaving little energy or budget for actually improving engagement levels. Instead, organizations should spend their resources and energy in moving the needle in the right direction. Identify areas of employee concern and define concrete actions plans to address the same. And more importantly, ensure that the action plans are actually implemented. Changing an organization’s culture, addressing a major HR process deficiency or raising the bar on leadership behavior does not happen overnight and requires concerted effort. In the end, rewards are real and sustainable. Organizations that increase employee engagement levels will emerge from the economic downturn with a clear competitive advantage, ready to soar high.

True Strength Comes From Within

Welcome to the first of my 2010 commentaries. I wish you a prosperous year!

Apart from strategic acquisitions and maintaining a sustained focus on operational effectiveness, one thing companies realize is that they need to leverage their greatest asset – their people. They realize that they must win over their employees. This is all the more essential if an organization has been forced to retrench, reduce staff levels, and constrain compensation budgets. During the economic rebound, increased workloads will be the order of the day and companies cannot risk low employee morale and disengagement.

Organizations must strive to capture the hearts and minds of their people. Employees who understand the strategic goals of the organization and demonstrate commitment to attaining them also feel an emotional bond with their employer. They are willing to go the extra mile and are a true source of sustained success. We term these employees ‘engaged employees.’

Highly engaged employees put in the extra effort because they care. And they care, because they feel looked after and valued. The right feelings lead to right behaviors which fuel higher levels of organizational success. People have become the primary source of a competitive advantage. It’s their decisions, their actions and their attitudes that are passed on through the interactions with customers and suppliers.

HR managers should insist that front line managers and supervisors get to really know the individuals on their terms as people, not merely employees. They should want to know about their career aspirations, interests, development needs and work-life balance. Recognition of the whole personality sends the powerful message that the organization understands and appreciates its employees.

In addition, there are other drivers of engagement such as employee empowerment; results based employee recognition, open communications, leadership support, teamwork & collaboration, etc.

By working towards ‘employee engagement,’ organizations are able to increase productivity and retention leading to better customer service, satisfaction and loyalty. Consequently, they are better positioned to weather the economic storm and emerge with stronger business performance compared to their peers. Move the needle on employee engagement and you move the needle on organizational success and lay the foundation for future growth.